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Renewable energy is a promising alternative to alleviating fossil fuel-based dependencies, but its development can require a complex set of environmental trade-offs for bird communities in the area, ranging from effective and physical habitat loss to direct collision-related mortality. The wide variation in the nature and significance of predicted impacts of utility-scale photovoltaic (PV) facilities on birds, and the low levels of confidence attending these predictions, has emphasised the need for scientific research. This study assesses the risks to bird populations and guilds at one of South Africa's largest PV developments. Firstly, in order to identify functional and structural changes in bird communities in and around the development footprint, bird transect data were gathered, representing the solar development, boundary, and untransformed landscape. Secondly, to assess the risk of collision mortality with solar-related infrastructure, representative samples (core vs. edge) were surveyed for bird carcasses and other signs of collision for three months covering 20-30% of the facility at search intervals of 4, 7 and 14 days. In order to account for potential biases in carcass detection, searcher efficiency and carcass persistence trials were conducted. The distribution of birds in the landscape changed, from a shrubland to open country and grassland bird community, in response to changes in the distribution and abundance of habitat resources such as food, water and nesting sites. These changes in resource availability patterns were detrimental to some bird species and beneficial to others. Shrubland specialists, such as the black-chested prinia (Prinia flavicans) and chestnut-vented tit-babbler (Parisoma subcaeruleum), appeared to be negatively affected by the presence of the PV facility. In contrast, open country/grassland and generalist species, especially species such as the Cape sparrow (Passer melanurus) and familiar chat (Cercomela familiaris), were favoured by its development. Utility-scale PV facilities inevitably will not substitute for the natural habitats they have replaced, but might offer opportunities for climate protection that do not necessarily conflict with nature conservation. Monitoring success of avian mortality was significantly influenced by variation in detection rates by size class (60 and 95% for birds <100 g and >100 g, respectively) and the location of carcasses relative to the solar panel units (65 and 90% for birds adjacent and under the units, respectively) as well as decreasing persistence rates per search interval (57, 53, and 40% after 4, 7, and 14 days, respectively). Only injuries associated with non-fatal collision of large-bodied birds with the underside of the panels and entrapment between fencing could be concluded with reasonable certainty. An extrapolated fatality estimate of 4.53 fatalities.MW⁻¹.yr⁻¹ (95% CI 1.51-8.50), short study period, and lack of comparable results from other sources made it difficult to provide a meaningful assessment on avian mortality at PV facilities. Despite these limitations, the few bird fatalities that were recorded might suggest that there is no significant link with collision-related mortality at the study site. In order to fully understand the risk of solar energy development on birds, further collation and analysis of data from solar energy facilities across spatial and temporal scales, based on scientifically rigorous research designs, is required.

Climate change is posing significant threats to human beings. Deploying renewable energy sources in electricity generation is widely accepted as an indispensable part of the solution to climate change. The vast potential lies in variable renewable energy sources, such as solar and wind. However, the intermittency of variable renewable energy sources is limiting their deployment. Investing in grid-scale battery systems is a potential solution to this problem. This thesis investigates this potential for the Nordic power sector, taking into account its distinct features, e.g., the vast amount of hydro reservoirs. Taking the capacities of variable renewable energy and battery systems as endogenous variables while considering the salient characteristics of the Nordic power sector, this thesis answers the following research question: How could variable renewable energy investment be supported by complementary investment in grid-scale battery systems to maximise social welfare? Answering this question helps solve the unaddressed research problem of assessing endogenous investment decisions in the capacities of variable renewable energy generation and grid-scale battery systems in the Nordic power market. This, in turn, helps informed decision-making in renewable-energy and energystorage investments to facilitate the realisation of the climate goal. Two experiments are conducted: one with ordinary BESS costs estimation and another assuming a lower-end level of costs. The data come from documents from official statistics (e.g., those from Nord Pool) and peer-reviewed publications. A quadratic programming optimisation model is used to maximise social welfare. Problem instances are then solved using the CPLEX solver implemented in the GAMS software. The results suggest that investing in BESS capacity helps to promote VRE adoption and VRE generation. Consequently, CO2 emission is reduced, and consumer surplus is improved, whereas the total social welfare remains unaffected.

Energy storage technology is needed for the storage of surplus baseload generation and the storage of intermittent wind power, because it can increase the flexibility of power grid operations. Underground storage of hydrogen with natural gas (UHNG) is proposed as a new energy storage technology, to be considered for utility-scale energy storage applications. UHNG is a composite technology: using electrolyzers to convert electrical energy to chemical energy in the form of hydrogen. The latter is then injected along with natural gas into existing gas distribution and storage facilities. The energy stored as hydrogen is recovered as needed; as hydrogen for industrial and transportation applications, as electricity to serve power demand, or as hydrogen-enriched natural gas to serve gas demand. The storage of electrical energy in gaseous form is also termed “Power to Gas”. Such large scale electrical energy storage is desirable to baseload generators operators, renewable energy-based generator operators, independent system operators, and natural gas distribution utilities. Due to the low density of hydrogen, the hydrogen-natural gas mixture thus formed has lower volumetric energy content than conventional natural gas. But, compared to the combustion of conventional natural gas, to provide the same amount of energy, the hydrogen-enriched mixture emits less carbon dioxide. This thesis investigates the dynamic behaviour, financial and environmental performance of UHNG through scenario-based simulation. A proposed energy hub embodying the UHNG principle, located in Southwestern Ontario, is modeled in the MATLAB/Simulink environment. Then, the performance of UHNG for four different scenarios are assessed: injection of hydrogen for long term energy storage, surplus baseload generation load shifting, wind power integration and supplying large hydrogen demand. For each scenario, the configuration of the energy hub, its scale of operation and operating strategy are selected to match the application involved. All four scenarios are compared to the base case scenario, which simulates the operations of a conventional underground gas storage facility. For all scenarios in which hydrogen production and storage is not prioritized, the concentration of hydrogen in the storage reservoir is shown to remain lower than 7% for the first three years of operation. The simulation results also suggest that, of the five scenarios, hydrogen injection followed by recovery of hydrogen-enriched natural gas is the most likely energy recovery pathway in the near future. For this particular scenario, it was also found that it is not profitable to sell the hydrogen-enriched natural gas at the same price as regular natural gas. For the range of scenarios evaluated, a list of benchmark parameters has been established for the UHNG technology. With a roundtrip efficiency of 39%, rated capacity ranging from 25,000 MWh to 582,000 MWh and rated power from 1 to 100 MW, UHNG is an energy storage technology suitable for large storage capacity, low to medium power rating storage applications.

Energy storage technology is needed for the storage of surplus baseload generation and the storage of intermittent wind power, because it can increase the flexibility of power grid operations. Underground storage of hydrogen with natural gas (UHNG) is proposed as a new energy storage technology, to be considered for utility-scale energy storage applications. UHNG is a composite technology: using electrolyzers to convert electrical energy to chemical energy in the form of hydrogen. The latter is then injected along with natural gas into existing gas distribution and storage facilities. The energy stored as hydrogen is recovered as needed; as hydrogen for industrial and transportation applications, as electricity to serve power demand, or as hydrogen-enriched natural gas to serve gas demand. The storage of electrical energy in gaseous form is also termed “Power to Gas”. Such large scale electrical energy storage is desirable to baseload generators operators, renewable energy-based generator operators, independent system operators, and natural gas distribution utilities. Due to the low density of hydrogen, the hydrogen-natural gas mixture thus formed has lower volumetric energy content than conventional natural gas. But, compared to the combustion of conventional natural gas, to provide the same amount of energy, the hydrogen-enriched mixture emits less carbon dioxide. This thesis investigates the dynamic behaviour, financial and environmental performance of UHNG through scenario-based simulation. A proposed energy hub embodying the UHNG principle, located in Southwestern Ontario, is modeled in the MATLAB/Simulink environment. Then, the performance of UHNG for four different scenarios are assessed: injection of hydrogen for long term energy storage, surplus baseload generation load shifting, wind power integration and supplying large hydrogen demand. For each scenario, the configuration of the energy hub, its scale of operation and operating strategy are selected to match the application involved. All four scenarios are compared to the base case scenario, which simulates the operations of a conventional underground gas storage facility. For all scenarios in which hydrogen production and storage is not prioritized, the concentration of hydrogen in the storage reservoir is shown to remain lower than 7% for the first three years of operation. The simulation results also suggest that, of the five scenarios, hydrogen injection followed by recovery of hydrogen-enriched natural gas is the most likely energy recovery pathway in the near future. For this particular scenario, it was also found that it is not profitable to sell the hydrogen-enriched natural gas at the same price as regular natural gas. For the range of scenarios evaluated, a list of benchmark parameters has been established for the UHNG technology. With a roundtrip efficiency of 39%, rated capacity ranging from 25,000 MWh to 582,000 MWh and rated power from 1 to 100 MW, UHNG is an energy storage technology suitable for large storage capacity, low to medium power rating storage applications.

Solar energy market has been rapidly growing in Sweden over the past few years. Älvdalen municipality in central Sweden is investigating the possibility of installing a utility-scale solar power plant. In the present work, we investigate technical design and economic viability of a utility-scale solar power plant in Älvdalen. Several photovoltaics (PV) designs on a 6.6-hectar land are modeled and analyzed. The installation capacity depends on design parameters, such as inter-row spacing distance and orientation.PVsyst simulation tool is used to model several PV system configurations, consisting of both mono- and bifacial PV modules. An extensive sensitivity analysis is performed to get a deep understanding of different design parameters and their effects on performance and production yield of the plant.For PV systems consisting of monofacial PV panels, a set of parameters is investigated, namely, tilt angle of PV arrays, space between rows of the plant. It is observed that an optimized design requires a careful consideration of the two parameters, since they considerably affect the amount of self-shading (shading of PV rows on each other).The optimum design generates more than 5000 MWh electricity annually.Bifacial configurations are designed in two forms: tilted (south or south-east facing) and vertical (east-west oriented). Tiled bifacial systems are basically similar to the monofacial ones. A comparison between the two systems shows that the bifacial gain is between 3 % to 10 %, depending on the tilt angle, inter-row spacing, and PV array height above the ground. Electricity generation per surface area of the vertical east-west bifacial configuration is significantly lower compared to the others and therefore, it is only economically viable together with other land applications, such as agricultural usage.Economical evaluation indicates that for the optimum design the levelized cost of energy (LCOE) is 0.67 SEK/MWh and 0.72 SEK/MWh for monofacial and bifacial system, respectively. Such financial figures are subject to change, depending on the design and financial parameters.

Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESSs) have become an increasingly popular feature of the electrical grid in the California ISO (CAISO) as a means to address the challenges posed by renewable energy variability and escalating peak demand. Due to their ability to reduce peak load demand on traditional generators and extend the benefits of the merit order effect, they have been theorized and claimed to reduce peak electricity prices. The purpose of this study is to test these claims within CAISO and understand what effects BESSs have had on peak electricity prices. Our findings show that there has been a significant decrease in prices after the introduction of BESSs into the grid although we found no significant effects of an increasing utilization of BESSs on peak electricity prices. We conclude that BESS utilization in CAISO has had no effect on peak electricity prices. We are contributing to the literature on the tangible market impacts of BESSs, highlighting the need for further empirical research in this domain.

Efficient temporal resolution and spatial grids are important in simulation of the inflow turbulence for wind turbine loads analyses. There have not been many published studies that address optimal space-time resolution of generated inflow velocity fields in order to estimate accurate load statistics. This study investigates turbine extreme and fatigue load statistics for a utility-scale 5MW wind turbine with a hub-height of 90 m and a rotor diameter of 126 m. Load statistics, spectra, and time-frequency analysis representations are compared for various alternative space and time resolutions employed in inflow turbulence field simulation. Conclusions are drawn regarding adequate resolution in space of the inflow turbulence simulated on the rotor plane prior to extracting turbine load statistics. Similarly, conclusions are drawn with regard to what constitutes adequate temporal filtering to preserve turbine load statistics. This first study employs conventional Fourier-based spectral methods for stochastic simulation of velocity fields for a neutral atmospheric boundary layer. In the second part of this study, large-eddy simulation (LES) is employed with similar resolutions in space and time as in the earlier Fourier-based simulations to again establish turbine load statistics. A comparison of extreme and fatigue load statistics is presented for the two approaches used for inflow field generation. The use of LES-generated flows (enhanced in deficient high-frequency energy by the use of fractal interpolation) to establish turbine load statistics in this manner is computationally very expensive but the study is justified in order to evaluate the ability of LES to be used as an alternative to more common approaches. LES with fractal interpolation is shown to lead to accurate load statistics when compared with stochastic simulation. A more compelling reason for using LES in turbine load studies is the following: for stable boundary layers, it is not possible to generate realistic inflow velocity fields using stochastic simulation. The present study presents a demonstration that, despite the computational costs involved, LES-generated inflows can be used for loads analyses for utility-scale turbines. The study sets the stage for future computations in the stable boundary layer where low-level jets, large speed and direction shears across the rotor, etc. can possibly cause large turbine loads; then, LES will likely be the inflow turbulence generator of choice. / text

Due to the vast fossil fuel wealth, the country of Saudi Arabia is experiencing a dramatic growth in both population and GDP. Therefore there is a growing demand for water and energy to meet these needs. All of the electricity that is generated is sourced from crude oil and natural gas. All natural gas production is used domestically and there are no net imports or exports. Due to many constrains on the natural gas supply, there is a slow shift in the generation mix going towards crude oil based power generation. This study assessed the viability of utility scale solar integration into the Saudi Arabian electric mix to potentially relieve some demand pressure for natural gas consumption as well as reduce green house gas emissions. Parabolic trough concentrated solar power technology was chosen as the primary technology for utility scale integration. A total of five scenarios were calculated. The scenarios include the following, base case, 5%, 10%, 15%, 20% solar integration in terms of installed capacity. Two sets of net present values were calculated. The net present values of each scenario were calculated. A second set of net present values was calculated with a projected increase in electricity prices. The natural gas and crude oil offset from the four solar integration scenarios were calculated using the base case forecasted natural gas and crude oil consumption from power generation. As expected, natural gas and crude oil consumption decreased when there was an increase in solar integration. The expected carbon dioxide offsets were calculated for each scenario. There was a decrease in carbon dioxide emission as solar integration was increased. Finally, all of these analyses were used as criteria for a decision analysis using the analytical hierarchy process. Depending on the decision maker’s importance on the determined criteria, solar integration in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is achievable. / text

This work presents a dynamic model for utility-scale PV systems. The model is based on a centralized converter topology, which uses a voltage-sourced converter (VSC) to facilitate the exchange of energy between PV generators and the utility grid. The related control system regulates active and reactive power injected by the PV system, based on a current control strategy. Moreover, the model includes a Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) scheme, implemented with the incremental conductance method. Dimensioning of the model is presented as well as simulation cases to validate its performance. Subsequently, the model was used to analyze the effect of variations in solar radiation on a test network with high penetration of photovoltaic generation. Results showed that without proper compensation of reactive power, variations in solar radiation can cause voltage fluctuations outside allowable limits. Thus, in order to mitigate these fluctuations, local control strategies were implemented to allow the exchange of reactive power between the solar farm and the utility grid. Simulations showed that the proposed strategies can mitigate voltage fluctuations at the point of common coupling, improving voltage regulation in the network. / Este trabalho apresenta um modelo dinâmico de sistemas fotovoltaicos de grande escala. O modelo é baseado em uma topologia de conversor centralizado, que usa um conversor de fonte de tensão (VSC) para facilitar a troca de energia entre os geradores fotovoltaicos e a rede elétrica. O sistema de controle relacionado regula a energia ativa e reativa injetada pelo sistema fotovoltaico, com base em uma estratégia de controle de corrente. Além disso, o modelo inclui um sistema de rastreamento de ponto de potência máxima (MPPT), implementado com o método da condutância incremental. O dimensionamento do modelo é apresentado, bem como vários casos de simulação para validar o seu desempenho. Posteriormente, o modelo foi utilizado para analisar o efeito das variações na radiação solar sobre uma rede de teste com uma elevada penetração de geração fotovoltaica. Os resultados mostraram que sem uma adequada compensação de energia reativa, as variações na radiação solar podem causar flutuações de tensão fora dos limites permitidos. Assim, a fim de mitigar estas flutuações, estratégias de controle local foram implementadas para permitir a troca de potência reativa entre os sistemas fotovoltaicos e a rede. As simulações mostraram que as estratégias propostas podem mitigar as flutuações de tensão no ponto de acoplamento comum, melhorando a regulação de tensão na rede.